Tropicana 400 - Rookie Qualifying Quotes

NOTE: Three of the top-10 qualifiers for Sunday's Tropicana 400 at Chicagoland Speedway were Raybestos Rookies: Casey Mears (fourth), Greg Biffle (seventh), and Jamie McMurray (tenth).

TONY RAINES, NO. 74 BACE MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET:

YOU HAVE A NEW ENGINE SUPPLIER THIS WEEKEND, HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS. "We needed to know where we stack up. This is a new team and everything. Everything is a rookie season for everybody. We need to kind of do a check. We've got a different power plant to see how we stack up and it runs a little better and that's something that we needed to answer for sure. You think it might and you think it might not but we need to know. AS THE DRIVER, CAN YOU TELL A DIFFERENCE? "It's a little bit different, and not to put it all on the motor. This is a newer body and we're working on our whole program. I think it proves that we've got the potential to get better each week." HOW WAS THE LAP? "It was scary. I mean, there was no rubber on the track at all and it's just unfortunate to have to go first. The car had been pretty neutral in practice and it was just wicked loose. That happens once in a while. I think that will get us in on time. I'm not worried about making the race or anything but I was hoping to have a better qualifying effort." DID THE RAIN SHOWER BEFORE QUALIFYING CHANGE THE TRACK? "Yeah, and it's that way for everybody. Unfortunately it will be the worst for me because I got to go out first. The track will get a little rubber and the later guys will probably be okay but the sun will be out and maybe it heats it up and slows them down. You never know; that's just the way it is. You take it and you go."

LARRY FOYT, NO. 14 HARRRAH'S DODGE:

"That's the fastest we've gone all day. I'm happy with it. I just wanted to make the race. That's the biggest thing. If we can do that, I'm going to be real happy. The car drove pretty decent. We made some changes before qualifying and they all seemed to work out." WERE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT THE CHANGING TRACK CONDITIONS? "A little bit. Not being around much, I didn't know what the rain was going to do to the racetrack and if it would be better or worse. My car was a little bit freer than practice but we did some things to free it up. I was still a little bit tight but to me the track was real good, a lot of grip."

GREG BIFFLE, NO. 16 GRAINGER FORD:

"I'm really happy with that. These guys have done a great job with this Grainger car. I feel kind of bad. Everybody has gone faster on their second lap and I though I had about a tenth more. I drove off into one there and it just didn't turn. I don't know if I just didn't get the nose down tight against the track. I'm just excited for the Grainger team to come here and maybe a top-10 qualifying run here. I think we have a good car. We tested here a couple of weeks ago and we'll see what we can do." WERE YOU SURPRISED TO PICK UP SO MUCH FROM PRACTICE TO QUALIFYING? "I'm really surprised I went a .40. I didn't I'd go a .40. I thought I might go a .60. The rain gave the track a lot of grip. I thought we'd pick up some from practice but didn't know that we'd pick up that much. The lap was real smooth. I qualified that Busch car and thought about what I needed to do there and applied that over here and it really worked for me and got us a good qualifying lap." DID RUNNING THE BUSCH CAR HELP YOU IN THE WINSTON CUP CAR? "I think it gave me discipline. Don't overdrive it. It gave me more opportunities, more chances to get it right. I didn't overdrive it the second lap but for some reason the car went up the hill on the second lap. I think that would have been a faster lap but oh well."

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 42 HAVOLINE DODGE:

"My car was really balanced. That's just all the faster that we were going to go. But I have been to a place like this when you are loose or tight. My Busch car is not very good today; we struggled all morning with that but it makes you feel good when you can get into your other car and run well. It's been vice versa this year. I've been good in my Busch car and not good in my Cup car. It makes me feel good as a driver to know when we get the right setup in that car that it's going to run well. It's the same car that we ran at Rockingham and Texas. It's a brand new car this year. They gave me, Sterling and Casey all three new cars this year and it's just one of my three new cars." ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE LAP? "Yeah, I really thought that I ran better than that. This place is so fast. It's amazing how fast it is. Everyone was asking what racetrack you feels the fastest and this is one of those. You are almost wide-open speed. I ran my lap and I thought 'I cannot believe I made it back to the start finish line.' I don't know that I'm thrilled, but we usually qualify 20th so yeah, I'm pretty happy with it." DID YOU PICK UP A LOT FROM PRACTICE? "We didn't pick up a lot. It shows three-tenths, I think on the sheet but when we made our bonsai run I had a car pull out in front of me so I didn't really get that. So we really gained about a tenth, maybe a tenth. Me and Sterling were talking over there at the trailer earlier and you just don't think you can go any faster. And then you go out and you do and you just think there is no way. You hear about momentum racetracks and this is certainly one of those racetracks that momentum is huge." DID THE RAIN HELP OR HURT YOU? "Same for everybody and I would say going right now would be better because the sun in going away so I would thin the guys at the end would have a little advantage. I bet my teammate (Casey Mears) pulls something out here, I'm guessing."

CASEY MEARS IN THE NO. 41 FUJI FILM/TARGET DODGE WAS THE TOP QUALIFYING RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE AT CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY. THIS IS THE THRID TIME THIS SEASON HE HAS TAKEN HOME THE HONORS. HE WILL START FOURTH, THE BEST START OF HIS 18-RACE WINSTON CUP CAREER. IN ADDITION, MEARS WON THE POLE FOR SATURDAY'S BUSCH RACE AT CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY.

"It's a good run all day. We had a good car in both ends, Busch and Cup. I just want to thank everybody at Fuji and Chip Ganassi Racing, to have an excellent weekend like this. I've got to thank my buddy here, Jimmy Elledge (his crew chief). He did an excellent job. We keep getting better and better as we go. Hopefully we'll have good races on Saturday and Sunday now." YOU WERE VERY QUICK IN PRACTICE AND BACKED IT UP WITH A GOOD QUALIFYING RUN. "I'm really happy about it. It worked our really good for us. We did better than what we needed to do and it just shows our signs of improvement for this year and it's just getting better all the time. HAVE YOU RUN THIS CAR IN A FEW RACES BEFORE THIS RACE? "We've ran this car before but I don't know quite where it was. I know it had some fender work done to it and things like that. I'm not sure exactly what car it is but I've definitely ran it before, for sure." IS AND EXAMPLE OF THE MORE LAPS YOU GET THIS SEASON THE BETTER YOU ARE ON THE TRACK? "I'm getting better, the team is getting better, we're just all learning. I'm doing the biggest learning curve and it's getting better all the time."

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